Coronations in the Past
The Coronation of Rulers and Their Wives in St. Martin’s Cathedral
| Their Reigns | Date of Coronation |
| Maximilian (1564-1576) | 8 September 1563 |
| Maria, his wife | 9 September 1563 |
| Rudolf (1576-1608) | 25 September 1572 |
| Matthias II (1608-1619) | 19 November 1608 |
| Anna, his wife | 25 March 1613 |
| Ferdinand II (1619-1637) | 1 July 1618 |
| Maria Anna, first wife of Ferdinand III | 14 February 1638 |
| Ferdinand IV (never ruled, died in 1654) | 16 June 1647 |
| Eleonora Maria, third wife of Ferdinand III | 6 June 1655 |
| Leopold I (1657-1705) | 27 June 1655 |
| Joseph I (1705-1711) | 9 December 1687 |
| Charles III (VI of the Holy Roman Empire) (1711-1740) | 22 May 1712 |
| Elisabeth Christine, his wife | 18 October 1714 |
| Maria Theresa (1740-1780) | 25 June 1741 |
| Leopold II (1790-1792) | 15 November 1790 |
| Maria Ludovika, third wife of Francis I (II of the Holy Roman Empire) | 7 September 1808 |
| Carolina Augusta, fourth wife of Francis I (II) | 25 September 1825 |
| Ferdinand V (1835-1848) | 28 September 1830 |
In this period three further coronations took place in Sopron and one in Buda.
Maria Theresa
Charles III (VI) had died without a male heir and so his daughter Maria Theresa ascended to the throne of Hungary. But even after her pompous coronation in June 1741, Maria Theresa’s position still remained uncertain, so at a session of the Diet of Hungary in Bratislava on September 11, she requested financial and military support in her battle against the King of Prussia, Frederick the Great. The Hungarian counts lent her their support and with a yell of “Vitam et sanguinem” convincing her with their determination to sacrifice their “lives and blood” for the queen and defense of the Empire. The queen’s influence and the initiation of a number of reforms during her 40-year reign led to the reconstruction of the Castle as a royal residence and, by the end of her reign, she had allowed some of Bratislava’s fortifications to be torn down in order for the city to expand.
